BBC 2007-04-08 加文本

BBC 2007-04-08



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BBC World News with John Jason.

An Iranian diplomat freed on Tuesday two months after being kidnapped in Iraq has said he was severely tortured by agents from the American Central Intelligence Agency. The Iranian news agency Fars quotes the man, Jalal Sharafi, as saying he was picked up on a Baghdad street by Iraqi agents in American forces' vehicles. Chillma Giverine reports.

The Iranian reports quote Mr. Sharafi, as saying he was tortured in various ways day and night. Now in hospital, he is said to have shown reporters injuries inflicted by his captors. He said he was abducted while shopping in Baghdad by people carrying Iraqi Defense Ministry identification papers. He was then taken to a military base near Baghdad airport, he added, and interrogated in Arabic and English about Iran's role and influence in Iraq. He alleged that his interrogators were acting under CIA supervision. A spokesman for the White House has dismissed the claims.

The British government has ruled that the fifteen naval personnel held in Iran for two weeks can sell their stories to the media. Their friends and families have been swarmed with offers of cash. Normally British service personnel are prohibited from selling their stories, but a Defense Ministry statement called the circumstances exceptional.

The Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari says his government wants a conference on Iraq, being held in Egypt next month, to focus on winning support for stabilizing the situation in his country. The meeting will involve all Iraq's neighbors, the US and other major powers. Mr Zebari told the BBC that one aim of the conference was to ensure Iraq wasn't used for settling scores between other states. “If this forum could provide a platform for other regional powers, like Iran, Syria, to talk to the United States, the West, on Iraq, I think that there is one thing common here that the subject of the conference is Iraq. I mean, there wouldn't be any other agendas brought to the table.”

The India foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee has been injured in a car accident near a village in west Bengal. More from Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta.

Police said Mr. Mukherjee's convoy was on its way back from Murshidabad when a truck rammed into his car near the village of Nakashipara. Mr. Mukherjee was first taken to a village hospital, and then shifted to a district hospital. Doctors say he suffered head injuries and was not out of danger. They said he may have to be shifted to Calcutta if his condition worsen. Mr. Mukherjee is one of India's most senior politician, and perhaps the most senior in the country's ruling Congress Party at the moment.

An American newspaper has reported the United States allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms deal with North Korea in an apparent violation of United Nations sanctions. The report in the New York Times says the Bush administration knew Ethiopia was taking delivery of military equipment from North Korea in January, but did not try to stop the deal.

World News from the BBC.

A 52-year-old Slovenian has completed what's thought to be the first ever swim of the entire length of the Amazon River. Martin Strel averaged about eighty kilometers a day, and towards the end he struggled with sunburn and other health problems. But on Sunday, the Slovenian will swim a short way further to attend a large celebration in the city of Belem. From Brazil, Gary Duffy reports.

Martin Strel has undertaken other epic swims before - having already tackled the Yangtze and Mississippi rivers, but swimming the Amazon was his most formidable challenge to date. The world's biggest river is home to piranhas, alligators, bull sharks, and anaconda snakes, while other dangers include whirlpools, tidal waves and armed bandits.”

The president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko has reaffirmed he will press ahead with plans for early elections, despite widespread opposition from supporters of his main rival the Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich. In an Easter address, President Yushchenko said his decision to dissolve parliament and call early elections was legitimate and constitutional. And there will be no turning back.

A United States delegation led by a former UN ambassador Bill Richardson has left for North Korea. The four-day trip is designed to secure the release of the remains of American servicemen killed during the Korean War in the 1950s. It comes a day after the American State Department said it had found a way to get round an obstacle blocking the release of North Korean funds frozen as a result of US sanctions against Pyongyang.

Pope Benedict, celebrating the second Easter of his pontificate, has told the world's Rome Catholics not to fear evil or even death because in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, love had been shown to be stronger than both. The Pope was presiding over the traditional Easter vigil mass at Saint Peters Basilica in Rome, the last event of the week before the main service on Sunday in Saint Peter Square.

BBC World News.

Vacabulary

settle scores=settle one’s/ an account (with sb): get revenge for an injury, insult, etc 为受到的伤害，侮辱等复仇